The discussion of any prior art documents, techniques, methods or apparatus is not to be taken to constitute any admission or evidence that such prior art forms, or ever formed, part of the common general knowledge.
“Hungry boards”, sometimes known as spill boards, are wings or extensions to the top edges of tip truck bodies for the transportation of loads such as coal and ore. The use of hungry boards allows the bodies to transport higher capacity loads as higher piles of load may be heaped in the body without the load falling over the body edge.
Traditionally, hungry boards are steel wings that are welded or otherwise permanently fitted to the body.
These traditional hungry board systems suffer from a number of disadvantages. They add additional weight to the tare weight of the truck so that there is less available payload and so a resulting loss of revenue.
The traditional hungry boards are made of steel and are welded to the truck body. They are susceptible to damage from rocks/material/or other excavator buckets making contact with them.
The steel splits open when damaged and fills up with dirt adding even more weight. The boards are dangerous if not repaired since steel can break off and cause injury to personnel and damage to tyres.
Furthermore, the boards are labour intensive to repair and can take several days to repair or replace.
Additional cost is incurred to hire welding machines and consumables for repairs. Damaged units need to go back to a workshop for repairs since they cannot be repaired effectively in the field. Additional cost of scaffolding or man lifts EWP are incurred to safely house maintenance personnel during repairs.
Other associated problems and additional costs are that cranes are required to lift the boards off and back on to the bodies. People need to work at heights for long periods of time. Personnel are exposed to heat from welding, grinding and cutting of materials. Personnel are exposed to noise when dogging into place to fit up and weld. Personnel have to fill out hot work permits. Personnel have to fill out working at height permits. It will be realized that repairs to the hungry boards may tie up multiple maintenance personnel for days. The repair process may also cause issues environmentally on site due to sand blasting and painting of units when replaced.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved hungry board system that addresses one or more of the above discussed problems of the prior art and/or which is at least a useful alternative to those hungry boards that have hitherto been known in the prior art.